


Eleven Kisses

by snowzone5



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: AU, Angst, F/M, Mileven, Nothing explicit, implied sex
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-30
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:46
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23394100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/snowzone5/pseuds/snowzone5
Summary: Mike meets El at the county fair. This story follows their relationship.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 19
Kudos: 22





	1. Kissing Booth

**Author's Note:**

> This is a completely defanged Kissing Booth. If that means nothing to you, good :)
> 
> This is my attempt to save a ruined story with more mileven and some angst.
> 
> Eleven looks a little different than my usual description. It will be obvious when you read that part. It comes up a few times.
> 
> I have to bump up the rating to tell the story I want to tell. Nothing explicit here.

Mike closed up the store early, already trying to decide what he wanted to do on a friday night. Everyone would be at the county fair, or at least that’s where the mayor wanted everyone to be, so he had the mall closed. There would be no hanging out there.

Mike worked at Hawkin’s Leather. He was originally hired to help split the General store in half, and build dividing walls, and then Don asked him to help haul around huge rolls of leather. Over those months he had grown quite muscular much to his own chagrin.

It was like Don could see into the future, because suddenly, the whole goth thing had made its way into Hawkins. Of course Hawkin’s Leather was there to accommodate. Goth didn’t really appeal to Mike, he avoided girls who were into it. 

Like he needed to. He didn’t think a girl had even looked at him sideways in the last five years. Mike was sure it was his hair, he’d tried a few different styles, he didn’t like most of them. The ones he did like would disappear at the first hint of a breeze. So he decided to just let his curly mop of hair grow. He was happier with the way it looked, but he couldn’t remember a single time where he thought a girl was checking him out.

Well, he’d just gotten paid, so to cheer himself up he thought he would go to the county fair tonight. It was being held in Hawkins this year. For sure it was Mayor Kline’s influence. It wasn’t a bad thing for Hawkins, and the store Mike worked at had picked up quite a bit of business.

He was going to hang out with Lucas, but he figured he was getting busy getting dumped by Max again, and would spend most of the weekend groveling to get her back. Mike shook his head. That was not a healthy relationship his best friend was in. 

Mike didn’t really like Max, she was brash, outspoken and looked indignant most of the time she was around them. He only put up with her because, well yesterday anyway, she was Lucas’ girlfriend. Today she wasn’t, but maybe tomorrow she wouldn’t be again. 

Mike would have dumped her ass a long time ago. Maybe she just needs to get laid or something. Mike had no idea if they were screwing or not. Lucas wasn’t the type of guy to brag about it. 

Mike would have been the same way. If he ever got lucky enough to have sex with a girl he wouldn’t be spreading that information all over the place. He had to stop thinking about it. He was just downing himself out and he wanted to go have fun at the fair.

No Lucas, and no Dustin. Dustin was off to visit Suzie again. Mike didn’t know why he didn’t just move there, or get her to move to Hawkins. They’d been going out for something like four years now. It was a long distance relationship that was actually working.

As he walked towards the fairgrounds he could hear the music and laughing people getting louder. Just ahead he saw one of the goth girls who came into the store a lot.

He figured maybe he’d recognize her from school if she hadn’t looked like a KISS reject.

She was with two of her goth friends. “Hey cutie,” she shouted at him, “Wanna screw?”

Mike shook his head, he was just not into goth.

He walked all the way to the back of the fairgrounds, he would never be able explain what made him walk to the end, but when he was in a quieter section of the entire fairgrounds. There was a booth there with a guy behind the counter. Mike thought he’d walk over and tell him that was probably the worst place to be if he wanted any kind of business at all during the fair.

When he got closer though, he saw that it was a girl with very short hair. She was leaning on her elbows looking around. She looked kind of sad. She noticed him, looked surprised and stood up. He noticed her hips. Definitely not a guy’s hips. He noticed her boobs, he felt sorry for her, he didn’t really know boob sizes, but he was sure she doing her best to hide them.

_ Face it Mike, she’s stacked. It’s no wonder she’s wearing a big bulky sweater, it’s not even doing a good job and hiding them. At all. _

And then he noticed her eyes. They were a golden brown, he could see that from where he stood, and they were beautiful. Her shorn hair made them stand out.

As he walked up to talk to her, she was a bit of a captive audience, he noticed the sign above that said  _ “Eleven Kisses, $1 each.” _

Hah! He thought to himself, I can actually pay to get a girl to kiss me. He was at the counter and while pointing at the sign, he said, “Kind of politically incorrect these days isn’t it? Not too mention not much business at this end.”

“That’s the way I want it.” She said. “My dad owed the mayor a favour, I owe my dad a favour. It all rolls down hill and here I am.”

“Ouch, not really a fun way to spend a Friday evening. So am I wasting my time asking you how much and what the rules are?”

“For what?” She looked like she might be done with the whole conversation.

“Um, well, uh, for kissing you. But I get it.” Mike started to back away.

“You don’t kiss me. I kiss you. To answer your question, One dollar. You put your hand on the counter here.”

He looked down and saw two stenciled hand prints. “Ah, that would be the “no touching” rule.”

“Yes it would.” This time she was smiling at him. “You lean forward, you pucker up, I kiss  _ you _ . This will be a real kiss, but no open mouth. And don’t try to slip me the tongue because you’ll pull back a stump of meat.”

Mike winced. “Gotcha.”

“It’s about a second long, you get a maximum of three.” 

Mike looked up at the sign. 

“I can see you doing the math. It’s a play on words. My name is Eleven.

“Ah, I get it. Eleven. It's a unique, different and pretty name all at the same time. Matches the girl who owns it... ok. I can follow simple rules like that if I get to kiss a pretty girl.”

She smiled and looked away, “Oh, one more thing.“ She pointed over her left shoulder and said, “Smile! You’re on camera.”

Mike suddenly felt uneasy. Why a camera? Why not just have some big guy you know will pound the shit out of you if you break one of the rules?

“Relax, it’s for our safety, has to be there for legal reasons.”

“But,” she looked around conspiratorially and reached beneath the counter.

“I just turned it off. I  _ would _ like to know the name of the guy I’m kissing.”

“Mike, here’s three dollars, I’m maxing it out.”

The girl took the bills, rung up the sale. Mike put his hands in the pre-designated spots, leaned in. Not quite sure what to expect. She leaned in and kissed him softly. For about a second, then he stood back up and felt his face heat up a little.

She put her hand to her mouth, “Oh, my. That was very nice Mike. Thank you.”

“You’re lips are very soft,” Mike said, totally red faced now. “Um, I have two more.”

“Yes you do,” she leaned forward again.

Mike could tell that she held onto the kiss longer than her rules allowed for.

She sighed, “I have never been kissed like that.” She couldn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Neither have I. Those kisses were easily worth more, but I have one more at the original price.”

No sooner had he smiled at her when she leaned forward again with her eyes closed. Her lips were not as puckered as the first two times. As a matter of fact she broke all her own rules.

She put her hand on his shoulder, her mouth opened slightly, and they kissed for a full ten or fifteen seconds.

When they parted she looked into her eyes.

“Um, El, I think I broke some of your rules.”

“Did you just call me El?”

“Short for Eleven, sorry, if that’s too familiar. Anyway, I broke your rules.”

“That was all me. I don’t care. If you want to pay another three dollars, we can break them all over again.”

“The only problem El, is that I’d want to keep paying until I run out of dollar bills. But then I’d still want to kiss you.” He was only half joking when he said that.

“Well, I could lend you money for more kisses, or,”

“Or?”

“Or I could close up the booth and let you kiss me for free as long as you want.”

“I don’t want to get you into trouble. Uh, not with the business, but with your dad.” Mike smiled at her.

El ran her hand over her head, “You’ll notice that there weren’t a lot of guys lining up to kiss the short haired weirdo. But... that's the way I wanted it.”

Mike shrugged, "you just happen to be the prettiest short haired weirdo I’ve ever seen.”

She suddenly got very shy. “I’m a little scared right now.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I like you and I don’t want you to turn out to be an asshole.”

“My older sister Nancy, and my two best friends have called me that. Um, a lot too, I guess. But my little sister Holly thinks I’m ok.”

“Let’s go with what Holly says,” El smiled looking little relieved.

“Do you want to get out of here?” Mike offered.

“Please.”

“Everything in town is closed for the fair tonight, but if I may be a little presumptuous we could go back to my place and I could make us some coffee. Um, I promise not to kill you.”

She laughed. “You have a weird sense of humour.”

“For the weirdo I’m talking to, sure. Seriously El, if you don’t want it’s ok. I’m just pretty happy right now and feeling bolder than I ever have in my life.”

She looked at him, “Me too Mike, coffee in your kill room would be great.” 

They both laughed.


	2. The Girls

Eleven looked at herself in the mirror. She was proud of her body. A long time ago she remembered crying on Mrs. Byers shoulder because Max told her that if she had no boobs she wasn’t going to get a boyfriend.

And she’d been right.

Mrs. Byers said that she was probably what they called a  _ late bloomer. _

She’d been right about that too, but when she bloomed, she  _ blossomed. _ Now she was staring a C sized girls that barely fit into the bra she wore. She used to show them off every chance she got, she’d used a push up bra to make them look even bigger. But when her dad wouldn’t look at her for more than a second, she stopped. Now she did her best to hide them. Eleven thought maybe her hips were a little too wide, but she couldn’t tell. She didn’t know what guys liked either… other than a nice ass. She wasn’t sure about hers. It looked ok.

_ Let’s face girls, you are the only reason that I have to do this “favour” _ . 

_ This sucks. _

So she put on a sports bra to keep them as small and compact as possible, and she put on a big loose pullover sweater. It was going to be a bit of a cool night anyway. Sometimes she walked a little hunched over to make them seem a little smaller, but her dad told her not to, bad posture he said. 

The sweater did little to hide her size. _I went from one extreme to the other._ _I guess it could be worse, my back pain isn’t too bad._

She’d never had a normal conversation with a guy, most guys would talk to her but stare at the girls. They never even looked at her buzzed hair. 

_ How ironic, now I have these, and I  _ still _ can’t get a boyfriend. Or even a date. Not one who’s not a mouthbreathing groper anyway. And I have to face the fact that you girls will be the first thing any guy I’m interested is going to see or be interested in. Or want to kiss for that matter. Am I that ugly? _

That sucked even more. 

_ Would you listen to yourself, Eleven? The world doesn’t revolve around your breast size. Maybe you can find a guy who appreciates them, but it’s not the only thing he likes about you. _

“Yeah. That would be nice. I’m not going to hold my breath.”

_ Maybe there’s a support group? Pun intended. _

“Hello, my name is Eleven Hopper and I have large breasts. Please feel sorry for me.”

Eleven giggled. _ Ok it’s not that bad. If it gets me a foot in the door talking to a cute guy, I’ll settle for that. I mean really, if a relationship goes anywhere, he’s going to see them eventually, he’s going to touch them… and maybe more. _

_ Don’t get yourself worked up Eleven, that makes for a long night or a cold shower. _

Eleven sighed. “Let’s get this over with.”

  
  


XXXXX

  
  


_ I’m sure it’s not possible for me to be any more bored. But that’s what I wanted right? _

She was leaning on the counter, just looking around. Eleven saw a guy walking down towards this end of the fairgrounds. 

_ Not just a guy Eleven. He’s tall, he has great hair, he looks a little pale, probably doesn’t go out much which could mean he’s a nerd. Not the worst thing. _

_ Turn around! I want to get a good look at your ass.  _

Instead he looked at her. She couldn’t breath. 

_ Oh my God. His eyes! He’s looking at me. I don’t know what to do! _

She stood up, without realizing she pulled her shoulders back.

_ Go ahead admit, you are trying to make your girls look even bigger than they are. And he’s not taking the bait. Oh, don’t tell me he’s gay. I mean great for his partner. I mean, there’s no way he’s single. Not with looks like that. Calm yourself Eleven, you’re gushing. I can’t help it. He’s doing things for me. Come over and talk… please? _

_ He’s looking at the sign. Maybe he wants to kiss me? He’s not walking with anybody, so maybe he’s single and straight after all. Please, please. I’ll kiss you. I think… I think I’d even let him touch the girls if he wanted to. _

_ You’re getting ahead of yourself Eleven. He hasn’t even said anything to you yet.  _ And then the smell hit her.

_ Just  _ what _ is he wearing for cologne? Whatever, it’s way too much, I can smell him from four feet away. It smells like cheap leather. Ugh. He’s probably going to want to kiss me too. Double ugh.  _

He pointed to the sign and said, “Kind of politically incorrect these days isn’t it? Not to mention not much business at this end .” 

She babbled something about favours. She was lost in his eyes. His voice was deep timbre. She wasn’t expecting that. She was getting used to the smell of cheap leather.

“Ouch, not really a fun way to spend a Friday evening. So am I wasting my time asking you how much and what the rules are?”

She heard him, but it didn’t really register.

“For what?” Shit. Eleven, don’t be rude.

“Um, well, uh, for kissing you. But I get it.” He started to back away. The smell began to dissipate.

_ ELEVEN! Did you just screw that one up or what? How do I recover? I need to fix this! _

_ Uh, why am I sounding desperate. This is just a guy. Ok, he’s gorgeous, but just a guy. Ok, I checked out his package… and, yep, nice… , but… he’s just a guy. And he doesn’t smell very good. He really dosed himself in that cologne. _

“You don’t kiss me. I kiss you. To answer your question, One dollar. You put your hand on the counter here.”

He looked down and saw two stenciled hand prints. “Ah, that would be the ‘no touching” rule’.”

“Yes it would.” 

_ I can’t stop smiling at him. I hope I don’t come across as an airhead. _

“You lean forward, you pucker up, I kiss you . This will be a real kiss, but no open mouth. And don’t try to slip me the tongue because you’ll pull back a stump of meat.”

He winced. “Gotcha.”

_ I just said that. I didn’t mean it. If he slipped me the tongue, he would get mine back. Eleven! You are acting like a horny teenager. _

_ Ok, I’m not a teenager… but this guy is really doing it for me. _

“It’s about a second long, you get a maximum of three.” She told him.

He looked up at the sign. 

“I can see you doing the math. It’s a play on words. My name is Eleven.”

“Ah, I get it. Eleven. It's a unique, and pretty name at the same time. Matches the girl who owns it... ok. I can follow simple rules like that if I get to kiss a pretty girl.”

_ Did he just say I’m pretty? He hasn’t even glanced down at the girls. There’s no way he didn’t see them. They are kind of hard to miss. Could this guy just not care? He hasn’t taken his eyes off my face since he came up to the counter. _

_ I don’t want to jinx this… but I’m going to test him. _

_ “Oh, one more thing.“ She pointed over her left shoulder and said, “Smile! You’re on camera.” _

_ Shit. That did it. He looks really uncomfortable now. Maybe he just doesn’t like kissing when someone else could be watching? I guess I don’t have to worry about sex tapes with this guy. _

“Relax, it’s for our safety, has to be there for legal reasons.”

_ I’m not going to tell him there’s no camera. No way the mayor was going to spring for that. I can handle myself anyway. Still it’s good to know that it worried him. I’ll look around like I’m breaking rules. _

“But, I just turned it off.”

_ I wonder if I can get him to tell me his name?  _ “I  _ would _ like to know the name of the guy I’m kissing.”

“Mike, here’s three dollars, I’m maxing it out.” 

_ Now he looks completely at ease… oh God he’s gorgeous up close. He’s got freckles! He’s even cuter up close. I almost want to scream out “Look at my girls…” but I think I’d have to say tits or he wouldn’t get it. _

Mike put his hands in the pre-designated spots, leaned in. 

_ It’s really going to happen. Oh God. He’s going to be my first kiss. I better make this count, for both of us. _

She leaned in and kissed him softly. 

_ His lips are warm and soft. He kissed me like he actually meant it.  _ “Oh, my. That was very nice Mike. Thank you.”

_ Try not to cry Eleven. His lips were so soft. Oh, he’s blushing. _

_ “ _ You’re lips are very soft _ ,”  _ Mike said, totally red faced now. “Um, I have two more.”

“Yes you do,” she leaned forward again.

_ I’m going to hold onto the kiss longer than the rules allow for. _

She sighed,  _ “ _ I have never been kissed like that. _ ”  _ She couldn’t quite meet his eyes.

“Neither have I. Those kisses were easily worth more, but I have one more at the original price.”

_ I’m going to hold the kiss… see if he stops first.. . He’s not!  _ Eleven parted her lips slightly. Oh, God... _ I could kiss him forever. _

When they parted he looked into her eyes.

_ “ _ Um, El, I think I broke some of your rules.”

_ Did he just call me El? _

_ “ _ Short for Eleven, sorry, if that’s too familiar. Anyway, I broke your rules.”

“That was all me. I don’t care. If you want to pay another three dollars, we can break them all over again. You can call me El. I like it.”

_ He gave me a nickname! I really like it. Nobody thought to shorten my name... El... Sigh. _

“The only problem El, is that I’d want to keep paying until I run out of dollar bills. But then I’d still want to kiss you.” He was only half joking when he said that.

“Well, I could lend you money for more kisses, or...”  _ Ok, now I’m flirting but I don’t care. _

“Or?”

“Or I could close up the booth and let you kiss me for free as long as you want.”  _ You’re really pushing it here El, keep it up and he’s going to be expecting a lot more. _

“I don’t want to get you into trouble. Uh, not with the business, but with your dad.”  _ His smile is gorgeous… Now I’m wishing he’d ask me out. Wishful thinking. What am I thinking, as soon as he sees my hair it’s all over. Maybe if he took a longer look at the girls I’d be back in the game. _

“You’ll notice that there weren’t a lot of guys lining up to kiss the short haired weirdo. But... that's the way I wanted it.”

Mike shrugged, "you just happen to be the prettiest short haired weirdo I’ve ever seen.”

_ Ok, he’s definitely flirting with me. He  _ must _ be interested. _

_ What if this is just for show and he’s just an asshole? It’s not like guys haven’t done that to me before. I’ve always been careful… it would be so easy to just go with it. _

“I like you and I don’t want you to turn out to be an asshole.”

_ “ _ My older sister Nancy, and my two best friends have called me an asshole. Um, a lot too, I guess. But my little sister Holly thinks I’m ok.”

_ He’s saying all the right things... _

“Do you want to get out of here?”

_ There it is. Try now to sound too desperate El. _

“Please.”

“Everything in town is closed for the fair tonight, but if I may be a little presumptuous we could go back to my place and I could make us some coffee. Um, I promise not to kill you.”

_ Huh? Why did he say that? Play it cool El. that was kind of weird. _

“You have a weird sense of humour.”

“For the weirdo I’m talking to, sure. Seriously El, if you don’t want to it’s ok. I’m just pretty happy right now and feeling bolder than I ever have in my life.”

_ He looks like he regretted saying that. I’ll give him an out. _

She looked at him, “Me too Mike, coffee in your kill room would be great.” 

XXXXX

  
  


_ El. What are you doing? You’re going to this guy’s place, and you have no plans on sleeping with him? Right? He might seem like a nice guy right now, but he might have also decided he’s having sex with you one way or other. You are already in his car. Get out of this  _ now! You don’t want to end up hurting him and having to answer a lot of questions later on.

No sooner had she decided she needed to get home, when her two favourite pains hit. Her back, and her girls. 

“I need to get home, the girls have been confined for too long. I need to free them up.”

“Oh? You have dogs? What kind?”

El smirked at Mike. “Sweater puppies Mike. You know the kind.”

“Sweater pup…? Oh, yeah. My little sister complains about that all the time.” 

_ He's really turning red.  _

“Holly?”

“Yeah, she has been blessed or cursed, depending on the day, with taking after my mom. She was a very early bloomer, and she hates it. She can’t find a bra that fits her right, her back pain is getting worse. She’s only thirteen.”

“So  _ that’s _ why you never took a second look at them.”

“I grew up with three girls. My mom and two sisters. After the first time you get in trouble for whatever kind of asinine insult you make… well, let’s just say I have more respect for women than most guys do.”

“Can I ask you a favour and not look? I really need to take it off.”

Mike looked straight ahead. “I promise not to look.”

The rain had started.

_ Oh great. Rain. As soon as I step outside I’m going to look like a contestant in a wet t-shirt contest. _

_ He's not looking. He really is respecting my problem. _

“ Um, Mike? On second thought, maybe I’ll take a raincheck on the coffee.”

“Sure.”

_ He sounds disappointed. He definitely  couldn’t keep it from his face. Did he really want to take me home. Right and  _ not _ want sex? He’s a guy, of  _ course he wants sex.

“Um. Mike. I wasn’t going to sleep with you tonight.”

_ He looks embarrassed and a little surprised, like it he wasn’t even thinking of that. _

“I know that, El. It wasn’t very smart of me to invite you to my place. I wasn’t thinking, sorry for any misunderstanding… and anyway…”

“Anyway?”

“I wouldn’t sleep with a girl I wasn’t going out with… I’ve never done one night stands.”

“What’s the longest relationship you’ve had? If you don’t mind me asking?”

He looked at his watch. “Going on twenty minutes now…” He chuckled.

_ I’m not sure I believe him. A guy who’s looked like that… no way he hasn’t slept with anybody. _

He changed the subject completely. “Um, where do you want me to drop you off? It’s late, it should be someplace safe.”

“Police station, my dad will pick me up there.”

Mike pulled into a parking space in front of the police station.

“Um, ok. I’m going to give you my jacket. You will be soaked in seconds if you go out in this rain.”

As he was taking off his jacket, El could hear his determined sigh. “Ok, I’m going to ask the question you’ve been dreading all night…”

El looked at him.  _ Try not to look desperate. If he’s going to ask me to stay the night I’m just going to repeat what I told him already. _

“Is there any possibility of seeing you again? For coffee, at a… um… neutral place?”

_ He looks scared to death. He’s waiting for me to shoot him down in flames. _

“I have to give you your jacket back so… ...hey, word of advice. Use maybe a gallon less of that cologne next time.” 

_ Get out now El. Don’t wait for an exchange of phone numbers or schedules. _

Eleven got out and ran to the front doors of the station.

  
  


XXXXX

“Hey dad!”

Jim Hopper looked up at his daughter, “Listen honey, I’m really sorry you had to do that booth. He’s off my back now, but that’s about as demeaning as it gets for a girl. That’s the  _ last _ time you will have to deal with that.”

“It wasn’t all bad.”

“You have guys lining up?”

“No. Exact opposite. Only one guy.”

“I recognize the jacket.”

“How can you recognize the jacket? He could be anybody. Hmm, his bad cologne is all over this jacket.”

“Let me guess, you think it smells like cheap leather?”

“How did you know?”

“I can smell it from here. I said it recognized the jacket, not by sight, but by smell. It’s not cheap leather. The guy you met is Mike Wheeler. Nice guy, never been any trouble from him or his friends. He works at Hawkin’s Leather. He’s a leather worker. Good one too, he made that jacket, I ordered one for myself after I saw him wearing it.”

“I think I made a fool of myself. I told him to use a gallon less of his cologne.”

Hopper laughed. “He didn’t correct you?”

“I left too quickly.”

“Are you going to see him again?”

“Maybe. He asked.” El tried to keep the smile off her face. “I  _ do _ have to return his jacket. At least I know where to find him now.”

“I’m going to be a few hours, honey. Nap on the sofa in here if you need to.”

El lay down on the sofa but she knew she wouldn’t sleep.

All she could think about was kissing him.

Mike Wheeler.


	3. Coffee and Contemplation

“I can’t stop thinking about you.” They both said at the same time.

It was 3:30 in the morning. Mike was trying to keep busy. He wasn’t able to sleep and had resigned himself to just staying up.

That’s when the phone rang.

“ I haven’t slept yet… I keep wondering… El, put me out of my misery one way or another. Do I have any chance with you at all?”

In a small, shy voice she said. “Yes… I need to see you Mike.”

“I’ll come and get you. Where are you?”

“I’ll be at your door in two minutes.” The phone clicked.

Mike was still wondering how she could get into the building when he heard the knock at his door.

He opened it up, El took one look at him and they collided in a tight hug. She was shivering.

“I’ve never felt this way before.” They both laughed as they said it at the same time.

“I’ll make a fire that will warm you up.”

El stepped back. She looked into Mike’s eyes. She stepped back further. She smiled.

“Mike. I’m a short-haired, large breasted girl. I’m wearing tight jeans, a white blouse with no bra on. My girls are pointing at you because they like you… and… you are  _ still _ looking at my eyes. You are like the perfect boyfriend.”

“Except I’m not your boyfriend El… “

El cast her eyes down. “I want to be your girl.” She said, her voice almost a whisper.

“You know El, last night I was, uh, hoping to have coffee with you, talk to you, get to know you a bit. Maybe work up the nerve to ask you out on a date. I know you said free kisses, but I was never going to hold you to that. Seriously, if you want to skip the whole awkward courting ritual thing and just be my girlfriend… I… It… um… uh…”

“Yes.”

They both let out the breaths they had been holding.

“I need two things from you Mike.”

“Ok.”

“Friends Don’t Lie. My best friend has that with a group she hangs out with. I want you to be totally honest with me. All the time. Even if it means hurting my feelings.”

“Ok El. That’s kind of a relief. We will have no secrets between us.”

El seemed to hesitate a little bit… then nodded.

“What’s the other?”

“Promises. Keep your promises to me. Those two things. That’s all I ask.”

Mike leaned in as she turned her face up to meet his, and kissed her. It was a simple kiss with an infinite number of promises.

“How many girls have you been with?”

Mike looked down, his face reddening.

“Mike… please be honest. ”

“None El. You are my first kiss, my first girlfriend. I was kind of a ninety pound frogfaced weakling when I was a kid.” He looked up at her, a crooked smile on his face. “So no girlfriends. What about you El?”

“You are my first everything. Or will be once we have… are… intimate. That’s not going to be tonight either, Mike. Sorry. I’ll go put my bra on now.” She smiled at him, “Where’s the bathroom?”

Mike pointed to the far end of the loft, and watched her as she walked to it. He took a quick look at her bum.

She called out over her shoulder, “It’s ok if you are checking out my ass Mike, . I’ve already checked out yours. How’s that for reverse sexism?”

  
  


XXXXX

  
  


El came out of the bathroom she’d reluctantly put her bra back on, but knew she really had to. Mike gave her a big smile as he saw her, but then his face went very serious.

_ Oh shit. What happened? _

“You’re looking very serious. Is something wrong.”

“You asked me to be honest with you, and now I’ve found something that needs to be said. I think maybe you’ve been expecting it but…”

He looked down.

_ He can’t even look at me. _

“You don’t want to hurt my feelings. I know Mike. It’s not like I didn’t ask you to be completely honest with me. Ok. Hit me with it.”

Mike sighed. “I don’t want to make you mad… and El. I don’t… but I have to say this.”

“Out with it Mike.” She sounded impatient.

“I… I really like your tits.”

El paused for half a second and then burst out laughing when she saw the look on Mike’s face. She bent over she was laughing so hard.

“I’m… I’m… gonna pee my pants…” She ran cross legged and hunched over laughing all the way back to the bathroom.

When she came back out she was wearing a bathrobe. “I need to wash my jeans… I see you have one of those stackable washer/dryers, I may as well do your laundry too… and if I’m doing that… I might as well make you breakfast. I feel very domesticated right now.”

Mike smiled at her and said, “I’ll make that coffee.”

XXXXX

“I didn’t know how you’d take that joke. I didn’t want to go all serious, but I wanted to let you know I… um… uh, this is awkward, but I  _ do _ appreciate how well endowed you are.”

“You are a lucky boy.” El winked at him… she looked around wanting to change the subject. 

“This whole place smells like leather. I thought you were just wearing cheap cologne last night.”

“Yeah, everything here smells like leather, all my clothes, everything. I gave up trying to cover it up. I like the smell, but I can see where a girl might not.”

“Unless she’s into leather?” El waggled her eyebrows at him. “I’m sorry for flaunting my body at you and then telling you we aren’t going to be sleeping together tonight. lI didn’t mean to be a co… um… a tease.”

“I respect your reasons, El. No need to apologize.”

“I don’t want to keep anything from you. I’m getting a physical on Monday morning that includes a pap smear. You’re not supposed to have sexual intercourse… a few days before that.”

“Ok, that explains it. You are definitely not going to want to have sex after that. Not for a few days anyway… never thought I’d have a pap smear conversation with a girl.”

“There’s not a girl on this planet that can’t gross a guy out by the things we have to do. I also need a mammogram.”

“Aren’t you too young to be needing that?

“I had… medical… difficulties when I was younger… and I’m sorry I’m being vague about it… It’s a secret I don’t want to keep from you but… but…”

Mike saw the tear running down her cheek. He moved over to her and gave her a hug.

“You can tell me when you are ready… if you don’t want to El. I understand. I don’t want to bring up any bad memories for you.”

“Thanks for understanding Mike. I will tell you I promise… just not right now.”

  
  


XXXXX

“I’ve always wanted to be sitting in front of a fireplace snuggled up to the guy I love…”

El’s body tensed when she felt Mike’s tense, then his tension melted away.

_ This is it. What’s he going to say? _

Mike sighed. “I love you too El. Since the second kiss. I thought I was in too deep and in it alone... all of that in too short a time.”

“I don’t want this to be a short term relationship.” El said.

“I don’t want that either… and I don’t want you to dump me because I’m not exciting enough… “

“Not exciting enough?

“I’m a leathetworker El. That isn’t the adrenaline rush it sounds like. You already know I’m going to smell like leather all the time… if that gets to you then…”

“What colour are my eyes Mike?”

“They are a beautiful golden brown.”

“I’ve told myself since I was thirteen and my girls made their presence known, that the guy who loved me would know the colour of my eyes without even having to think about it.” 

“Easy for me to get lost in your eyes.”

She smiled at him. “That goes for me too… totally changing the subject… I need to do a little clothes shopping today. At the mall.”

“You want to hang out all day… maybe even the weekend?”

“Mike…”

“I know, I know. No sex, but… we could compromise?”

“Ok, how do you compromise on no sex?”

“Well we don’t have it, but there’s nothing stopping you from sleeping beside me. I promise to keep my hands to myself… for the medical reasons.”

“I want to curl up with you tonight. Good compromise. Ok. We need to go talk to my dad.”

“Introducing the new boyfriend. I get it. No pressure.”

“Ok, let’s get dressed and go by the station.”

“El, we don’t need to use the station to meet people, I can drop you off at home, even to change if you want.”

“No.”

“No, you don’t want to change, or no you don’t want me to know where you live.” Mike gave her quick laugh.

“I don’t want you to know where I live.”

Mike’s smile disappeared, his face got serious. “Um, ok… um… uh, where does he work? We can meet your dad at work… ”

_ He looks worried. He doesn’t know what’s going on. _

“It’s a long story MIke. I  _ do _ promise to tell you… just… not now.”

“I get it Eleven. You have secrets. I don’t get to know them right now.” Mike got up and started to clean up in the kitchen.

“You’re mad at me. Please don’t be.”

“I’m not mad… just a little disappointed I guess. Not that I need to know where you live...”

“Mike…” She sighed. “When I tell you, you will understand. I’m… I’m too scared to tell you right now. You have to trust me...”

“Ok.”  __ He said.  _ I need to lighten this up… I think I came across as way too dramatic.  _

“I can tell you mine though. I’m secretly a nerd who likes large breasted girls.”

El’s laugh was music to his ears, “You’re saying most nerds don’t?”

“Good point. So we can meet your dad… where?”

“The police station.”

“He’s a cop?”

“Chief Jim Hopper. Maybe you’ve heard of him.”

“Uh… I’m making a custom leather jacket for him and… oh… he’s your dad? I thought his daughter…”

“That was Sara… she’s gone… and my dad rescued me… and… and…” El started to cry and Mike immediately ran over to gather her in his arms.

“I think I’m getting the picture El. I won’t ask you again.” He felt her head nodding on his shoulder.

_ Her childhood must have been awful. Feel good now Mike? You made her cry. That’s the one thing you never wanted to do. Make a girl cry. You’re a real piece of shit you know that buddy? _

“We’ll leave when you’re ready.” He couldn’t look at her.


	4. A Gesture's Worth

The short ride in the car was quiet until El broke the silence. “MIke. I cry when I get emotional. Sometimes they are good cries, sometimes… not so good.”

“You don’t need to explain yourself. All relationships are give and take. I can give for a very long time El. The only thing I’ll take… the only thing I really need is… your love.”

“And my dad’s approval… you need that too Mike.”

Mike hung his head and sighed “Yeah… there is that.”

“Mike! I’m kidding he already knows who you are. Not that we’re together, but… you’re nervous?”

“I want to tell him that I love you but…”

“He might not be ready for that. I know. We’ll ease him into it…”

Mike nodded as they pulled into the parking lot.

Mike started to take some deep breaths.

_ He’s terrified. He wants to make a good impression. _

“Give me your hand. A gesture will say a lot more than we can.”

  
  


XXXXX

Hopper looked at the two holding hands. He saw how close his daughter was standing to Mike Wheeler.

“How’s my jacket coming along Wheeler?”

“Still waiting for that leather order sir. You wanted the flight jacket colour and we stock a lot of black and red leather for the goths.”

Hopper nodded. “Ok, Mike. I know you’re an ok guy, so I’m only going to say this once.” He referred to their hand holding.

“I would die for Eleven.”

Mike nodded.

“And I would kill for her.”

Mike’s eyes went wide. 

“So I need to talk to you for a few minutes…. Alone.”

“Here El. You can wait in the car.” Mike gave her his keys.

  
  


XXXXX

_Wow. Dad came on kind of strong. Kill for me? Ok, I know he’d do that. Same goes for me. I hope he’s not putting the fear of the Upside Down into Mike. Or even telling him about it. That’s not for him to decide. He knows that. I told him if I ever got_ _involved with anyone it had to be my decision._

She saw Mike walk out of the building. He was carrying two large suitcases and an overnight bag…  _ her _ overnight bag, over his shoulder.

_He’s not smiling._ _Must have gone really bad… and what’s he doing with my suitcases? Did my dad kick me out of the cabin? It couldn’t have gone that bad._

Mike got in the car and El passed him the keys.

“A soon as he saw us together he said he felt like he was losing his little girl.”

El lost all composure and started crying.

“But he’s not El. I tried to reassure him of that.” He hugged her.

She nodded and cleared her throat, “Let’s go shopping I need some retail therapy.”

El started to think Mike better be worth it. To put her dad through that kind of pain for someone who turned out to be an asshole. 

“About the suitcases. Your dad is going to be out of town. He knows that I can’t drive you to where you live to pick up your clothes. So he packed the your clothes with Mrs. Byers.. He… uh, asked if you could stay with me, and take you to your appointment.”

“He didn’t give you the ‘ _ respect my girl’ _ speech?

“Oh, he did… and I apologize about the comments I made about your um, breasts. That’s not me El, I think I just felt giddy having a girlfriend."

“Thank you Mike. I took them in the spirit they were intended.”

"I think saw the look on your face when we walked in. No father is ok with her daughter sleeping over.  Let’s drop your entire wardrobe off and then head to the mall. What are you shopping for?”

“Push up bras to make my girls look bigger.”

They both burst out laughing. 

  
  


XXXXX

  
  


El was holding Mike’s hand tightly as they walked through the mall.

_ I can’t believe I’m walking with a gorgeous guy who’s my boyfriend. I’m getting smiles from girls… and… _

“Mike… at least two guys have winked at you, and one guy gave you a weird kind of nod. Do you know what that’s about?”

“I didn’t notice, but I can guess. The winks and probably the nod are, um saying… uh, ‘ _ you lucky bastard’ _ for the obvious reason El. You are beautiful, but, uh, I don’t think they are looking at your eyes.”

“I thought so. It’s one of the reasons I don’t go out much. Also, I don’t like crowds. Too many people.”

Mike didn’t ask why, but he guessed it was related to her…  _ secret. _

“Shit, here comes Max. Not really my favourite person.”

“Max? She’s my best friend. I didn’t know you knew each other.” El was frowning.

“Sort of, she’s Lucas’ girlfriend, every second or third day or something. I don’t keep track. I keep telling Lucas to dump  _ her _ ass for a change. See how she feels about it. But, um… if she’s your best friend. I will be civil…”

Max smiled at El, took a quick glance at Mike and then said to El, “We need to talk.”

“I’ll wait on the bench here.” He said.

After a few minutes El came back to where he was sitting, grabbed his hand and said, “Let’s go.” 

She was fuming and Max was nowhere to be seen.

“What’s going on?”

“Max and I had a fight.”

“Let me guess… about me right? She told you I was a controlling asshole and that you should dump my ass?”

El gave him a crooked smile, “You’ve heard this before.”

“The guys, I’m talking about Will, Dustin, and Lucas, kind of made me the Party leader because I was the Dungeon Master for D and D when we were kids. I guess I was a bit of a control freak with the game. And the Party, who could join, that kind of thing kid stuff. But that was… I don’t know… ten years ago?”

“It doesn’t look like we’ll all be hanging out together. Max has never introduced me to Lucas, and I didn’t even know there was a party.” El said. “Some friend.”

“I’ll introduce you. Lucas is a bit moody… the whole Max thing… Dustin is very smart, he used to like Max, but then one year he showed up with Suzie. Two peas in a pod those two. Very much in love. They’re both teachers now in Hawkins Middle. Will is… um, quiet… he kind of went strange one summer, nobody really knows what happened. He was my best friend… well they all are, but Will and I kind of drifted apart.”

Mike shook his head. “He’s still a nice guy… but it’s like he never grew up. I mean I didn’t either, but I now have responsibilities, a job, that kind of thing. I don’t know what Will does. I haven’t seen him in months. I don't think the rest have either. Do you work? Other than the carny biz you have going?”

El laughed at him, “Funny guy, yes I work.” They continued walking.

A few seconds later Mike said, “Are you going to make me guess?”

El giggled, “I was lost in thought… thinking about how happy I am right now. I started off as a calligrapher mainly doing it by pyrography.”

“Calligraphy… like Old English script?”

“Yes, I have a very steady hand, I was asked to manually reproduce some books, I made a lot of money at it.”

“That’s kind of neat… my penmanship isn’t nearly good enough to do that. Pygraphy… uh something to do with fire?”

“You know it as wood burning. Everyone wants a sign with their name on it for the mailbox or yard. It was too much work for too little money.”

“It sounds like you don’t do either anymore.”

“No, I got into font design. I have a big contract with a graphics company to design a set of fonts for them… ok now you are looking at me kind of funny. You know what fonts are right?”

“I’m a nerd, of course… I um, am ashamed to say that I didn’t know you were that smart. Designing scalable fonts takes artistic and technical skill.”

“All you really knew about me last night was that you liked my kisses. That’s not a bad way to start off a relationship.”

“Wow… fonts. I think that’s one of the coolest jobs I’ve ever heard of. Throw me some font jargon.”

“You need to know about baselines, cap-height, x-height, descenders, and ascenders. And how they work together in a font, how they will scale. You have to make sure your font for one’s and small L’s look different. Same with zero’s and capital O’s. How big on disk they will be, because they get downloaded to laser printers. It's not a simple as most people think.”

“I’m guessing you have to be a little artistic too?”

“Yes, and it’s tedious work, you need to be patient. It’s one of the reasons fonts are so expensive. Companies pay huge money for a custom font. Oh here’s the store I want.”

“Uh, that’s a lingerie store.”

“Is it really?” El looked wide eyed and innocent, before she winked at him. “I’m going to get some sexy panties you can take off me later.” With that she left him standing in front of the store as she walked in.

_ She’s sure I won’t walk in right after her, and she’d be… wait… did she say panties?” _

  
  


XXXXX

El came out of the store carrying a pink bag. Their hands found each other and they continued walking through the mall.

_ He looks so happy! It’s making me happy to see him happy.I think we were meant for each other. _

Mike stopped. He looked around, worried. “I hear a little girl crying.”

El close her yes for a split second. “Over there.”

A mother was sitting on a bench, and her little girl sobbing. El could see the problem right away. Her doll’s leg was lying separate from the doll. She was inconsolable, even though the mother was hugging her and rocking her back and forth.

El dragged Mike to the bench and they both crouched down. “What it is honey? Is your doll broken?”

The little girl nodded her head, a little surprised that two strangers had stopped to talk to her.

“Well, it just so happens that my boyfriend here is an expert at fixing dolls. Can you let him try?”

The girl nodded and she handed the doll and the leg to Mike. He could see that it was a simple snap on, but it took a lot of force to actually snap it back in. He tested to make sure it wouldn’t come out easily again.

“See, there you go.” El said.

“What do you say?” The mother said… waiting.

“Thank you sir.”

“You are very welcome,” Mike said. 

El had been watching him carefully. “You really don’t like to see girls cry do you?” 

“It’s the worst sound in the world for me. I… can’t talk about that right now.”

_ Is he going to cry? It must have been traumatic. It looks like we both have our secrets. I’m not sure mine is as bad as his. I lived through mine… mostly unscathed… _

_ Mostly. _

XXXXX

  
  
  


Back in Mike’s loft, El asked, “You don’t mind if I wear track pants and a big loose sweater do you?”

“Why would I mind that?”

“You don’t need to see me in tight jeans and t-shirt all the time?” She smiled at him as she went back to the bedroom to change.

She came out a few minutes later. “That feels much better. I will… um… never mind.”

“You would look good in a burlap sack. I want you to be comfortable around me. It feels… um… very right for you to be here.”

“It feels right for me too, Mike. What are you going to do for the rest of the day?”

“Besides ogling your body, I’ll do some stitching on leather journals. They are big sellers in the store. What about you?

El laughed. “Ogle away, my dad packed my laptop, I’ll do some work.”

She pulled out a Toshiba 4400sx out of her overnight bag.

“Hmm, ok forget about your body, that laptop is much sexier.”

“Nerd.”


End file.
